anon@9.21pm: you're clearly a petulant idiot with insecurities about whichever two-bit country you come from. here in india, we love our armed forces and respect the job they do. if you've got something constructively critical to say, go ahead by all means. but kindly refrain from using this blog as a platform for expressing your frustrations about the armed forces about whichever country it is you're from.

spectacles is not a basis for rejection from flying duties. in fact, it is not even a basis for rejection during selection for flying duties in the academy. there are certain minimum standards which are tested on a regular basis. the officer wearing the glasses meets the criteria laid down as part of the medical standards in iaf service. you will be able to find more details of the basic minimum standard in http://careerairforce.nic.in. as far as i remember there is a 6/6 requirement for at least one of the eyes, and a minimum of 6/18 for the other, but these may have been tightened up since i retired.

Amazzzzing photos! Are you accompanying the air force to oman, Sir? If you are, kindly post more photos of the Omani Jaguars. I hear they have maintained them beautifully, but are about to replace them with either Rafaels or Typhoons. What are your thoughts on this?

hahaha, which other country gets its pilots to line up and strike poses like bargain bin models? Even if pilots are known to be hot shots and admired, there is cool, and there is forcing it to the point of animal circus quality. Look at them, they are so stiff and unnatural they should be in Mdm's wax museum, MUSEUM of BAD TASTE.

It seems as though India has learned only the superficialities from the West, pilot = Raybans and cringing fake top gun photoshoots (while flying a obsolete bomb truck like the Jaguar), just as the only superficialities you learned from democracy is not institutions and rights and responsbilities, but leftism, endless tongue waggling and demand for respect for timeless traditions like monkey suckling and rat feeding.

Seriously, get a photographer who don't make experienced pilots act and look like 16 year old re-enacters. Pathetic.

@Last anon -- have the guts to comment with your name. if you're american, then you know how we kicked your white asses in the cope india exercises. remember how US pilots got pulled when they went back home? forget the ray bans. meet our pilots in the air, and they'll show you that they know their flying far better, and through the hard way mind you, than any other stupid pilot force in the world. and if you're a porki (can't be... your grammar seems alright), then i have nothing to say apart from the way we swatted out your silly jets from the sky with inferior craft in the wars.

and let me add, it is precisely circumstance that has honed the iaf into a supremely talented flying force. forced to fly what they have, they have been able to eke the best out of their bomb trucks and flying coffins and whatever else you want to call them. the sad fact honey is that with mig-21, our iaf pilots made american f-15 pilots wet their overalls and go crying back to mama in the pentagon about how their "advantage" in the air was now gone. before you criticise, have basis. thank god our air force has learnt nothing from the western forces. we'd all be dead by now if that were the case. our air force makes do with what it has, and it kicks ass in the bargain. remember, a handful of our mig-21s made american strike eagles put their tails between their legs. run to mommy and tell her that. or did she abuse you when you were small, which is maybe why you bring your frustrations to blogs? :D

Anonymous @ 9.48 said...Why photoshopped? The IAF contingent includes two tankers. So where is the question of photoshop? See shiv's last post.

I did not mean to say anything about the existence or lack of the tankers, what i did mean was that the photos were manufactured(may be they did not have any pics of the jaguars and the tankers flying together). Our IAF PR dept is known to do that, see the first photo in this post

For selection for flying duties, you need 6/6 for far vision, and certain correction is acceptable for near vision. details are there on IAF's website. Once you get you get assigned to an a/c type, and end up with glasses, you should be fine. My dad's coursemate, who is a Su30MKI pilot, has glasses, and was the chief operations officer at Pune. Glasses aren't an impediment if you have a proven record in flying.

One issue though ... my dad's friend told me that when the a/c descends below a certain altitude when coming in to land, the glasses tend to get misty sometimes, which is when if you are in a 2 seater, the other pilot takes over for a bit, or if you are in a single seater, you be quick with the clearing up! :)

This @ss has to be an American, cant be P@ki as his English is too good for a P@ki. What he is doing on this blog is akin to a guy entering someone's house under cover of darkness, shitting and then running away. Shame on you ghostshitter.

Anon at 2:51 is not American. It's a dirty paki. No matter how hard they try the pakiness seems to come out. I would request everyone to kindly ignore. The owner of this blog should take care to delete retarded comments.

Anonymity need not be banned but the puerile content must be denied public display. Criticism which is meaningful is good to read but this..These are good pictures and pilots look as they always look...nothing to draw derisive comments. They are a rarity who have a risky profession. Those who find fault where none exists need to be taught by way of editing.

@ Content Management Musings: I agree to your suggestion. But nevertheless we shouldn't be too perturbed by these anonymous comments. We know where they come from and a couple of us routinely dish out their same poison to them on their websites -- one of which is http://www.defence.pk/forums/.

@ Shiv: where can I do a comparison b/w the Darin Jaguar and the RAFO Jaguar? And I would like to add that the OG flight suit looks much more business-like than the blue one which used to make our pilots look like bloody mechanics!!

To the anonymous jerk who also happens to be an ignoramus, let's just say that the Indian military aviator's rigorous training and experience makes him good enough to forget a little more in an afternoon than what almost any other air force could learn over a few years.

Having produced great aviators like Iven C. Kincheloe Award winner Wg.Cmdr. Rajiv Kothiyal, it doesn't have the time for ignoramuses like yourself.

Why do they make the pilots strike poses like South Indian movie 'heros' who look and act like monkeys? This is pathetic and insult to professional pilots in IAF. All that is missing our some plump, fair skiined 'actresses' and this could a screengrab from any Tollywood movie.